Vegetarians and vegans. Can plants feel pain?

Question

I am seventeen and a vegan purely for animal rights. My friend asked my why I still eat plants as they can feel pain. I said they cant because they don't have a central nervous system, brain or pain receptors. However, she begs to differ.

Can you give me some info and a list of websites that detail how and why plants can't feel pain. This will help alot thankyou.

Answer 1

Ask your friend to prove plants feel pain.

Your argument is logical. Her argument is not logical.

The burden of proof is on her.

I can say "there are purple people on Jupiter" but I would need to provide some kind of evidence if I expected other people to believe it.

If someone said "there are no purple people on Jupiter" and my only argument was "yes, there are"; I don't think that would be very convincing.

Answer 2

Maybe you can get the answer here :

But plants have life too. Don�t they scream and feel pain in their own unique ways? Isn't it cruel to eat them too?

If that is the argument to carry on eating both plants and animals, it is certainly a hypocritical one. Indeed plants do have life. However, their nervous systems are very much simpler compared to that of animals and humans. Their capacity to feel pain and fear is so much lesser, which is not surprising since they are unable to react to them in the way humans and animals do. For us, fear and pain are basic survival instincts which enable us to fight or flight. For plants, fear and pain serve no purpose.

Plants are the most precious life forms on Earth since only they can convert Sun energy into food for all other life forms. They are responsible for regulating the oxygen in our atmosphere as well. But which is worse: massive deforestation to clear land for meat production, extensive consumption of plants to fatten livestock to satisfy the affluent minority, or taking a plant's life directly for human consumption?

Some vegetarians choose a fruitarian diet, which comprises only of fruits, nuts and seeds, all of which can be obtained without taking the plant's life. In fact, it is the part of the plant that it wants to give. It is their way of reproduction, by engaging the help from animals to spread their seeds. That is why fruits are so visually attractive, fragrant and delicious.

We have to understand that there is no way we can completely eliminate the damage caused by our very existence. Somehow we step on grass or even ants. What we can do is to reduce the degree of our damage to the best of our ability. We have to eat to survive, but we have a choice. Choosing vegetarian is certainly a huge step towards a better world.

Answer 3

This argument is why some people choose to be fruitartians. A plant offers its fruit in hopes that the animal will spread its seeds, nothing gets killed in the process.

Plants don't feel pain as we humans do since they have no central nervous system, but even one celled organisms have been shown to react to their environment.

Just tell your friend that you don't mind killing plants, because you can't hear them scream. :-)

BTW: I'm a vegetarian not a fruitartian

Answer 4

"Having settled that"?  

Having settled WHAT exactly?  Having settled that your friend believes her completely uneducated opinions are facts?

"There is ample evidence of systemic response in plants to external threats, as I'm sure many researchers in the field of botany would agree."  

Every living organism responds to disruption of it's homeostasis.  This has absolutely nothing to do with sentience or pain.

"Wildon has published evidence of an electrical signalling system in plants similar to the epithelial conduction system found in several "lower" animals; others have published evidence of intra-plant chemicals"

Again, this has absolutely nothing to do with sentience or pain.

Plants do not have a central nervous system.  Plants are not sentient.  Plants do not experience pain or suffering.

Tell your friend she's just plain wrong.

Answer 5

Ask your friend whether she truly believes that mowing the lawn is no different than skinning a cat while he/she is still conscious.

Plants don't have brains, central nervous systems, pain receptors, or anything else that would indicate the ability to feel pain. Even if they did feel pain, being vegetarian is still the best way to go. Cows have to eat 16 pounds of plant foods to convert them into 1 pound of meat. Meat production is very inefficient, and we save more plants by eating plants directly instead of funneling them through animals.

How do you know that plants can not feel pain?

http://ar.vegnews.org/plant_consciousnes...

What about killing plants?

http://ar.vegnews.org/killing_plants.htm...

What would you do if we hypothetically discovered that plants do indeed feel pain?

http://ar.vegnews.org/what_if_plants_fee...

Answer 6

You should not be friends with this person because she is not smart. Plants do not have brains to think nor do they breathe to live. You can not torture things that are not living. This is like asking, can stuffed animals be in pain and tortured. Right these are stupid questions?

THESE ARE THINGS YOU LEARN IN FIRST GRADE!

Answer 7

Peter Thompkins wrote a wonderful book called The Secret Life of Plants. He had conducted several experiments using very sensitive equipment to  monitor their reactions to various stimulus and situations. What he discovered was that they have the ability to turn off their pain mechanism when they are told when harvest is scheduled so that they offer up their fruit as a gift.

I suggest that if you were to tell an animal that you intend to harvest at 2 p.m. the response would be very different response. The adrenals would flood its system (read tissues) with both anger and fear.

May I remind you that you are what you eat?  And may I ask if you, like all the other members of the human species don't have enough fear and anger without eating more? Plants offer their fruit as a loving offering without pain.  Now that is a difference that means something to me. So you are not quite correct -- plants do have feelings -- they also go into shock when eggs are broken, love classical music and hate rock and roll.

Answer 8

If you find decide plants feel pain, and you're already a vegan, what are you going to eat?

Answer 9

your brain is the remote control for everything you do without it you are lifeless correct? well same gos for plants.  your friend is just being iggnorant

Answer 10

A clever question for the PITA bunch!  There have been experiments that tend to show that plants do in fact sense pain, as well as hostility.  Unfortunately, I cannot direct you to any resources that describe them.  By the way, are those leather shoes you're wearing???  Hey! Take off that leather belt!! Wanna tunafish sandwich??   LOL....